In this section

HOUSE OF CARTHUSIAN MONKS

30. THE PRIORY OF AXHOLME

The Carthusian monastery of Axholme was
founded in 1395 or 1396 by Thomas Mowbray,
earl of Nottingham, earl marshal of England,
and afterwards duke of Norfolk. (fn. 1) Although
there were never more than nine houses of this
order in England, seven of them were founded
between 1343 and 1414, at a time when the
popularity of other religious houses was waning,
and benefactors chose in preference schools, hospitals, and colleges of secular canons. The
motive was no sudden enthusiasm for a new
order: the Grande Chartreuse had its origin in
1084, and the English houses of Witham and
Hinton had been founded in 1181 and 1227. (fn. 2)

Before 1389 Mowbray entertained the project
of founding a charterhouse, and petitioned
Urban VI for help. (fn. 3) The priory of Monks
kirby in Warwickshire had been founded about
1078 by one of his ancestors as a cell to the
Benedictine monastery of St. Nicholas at Angers. (fn. 4)
Like other alien priories its history in the fourteenth century was very unsatisfactory. Early
in the reign of Richard II the property, which
was valued at over £200 a year, is said to have
been leased by the monastery for a considerable
sum of money to Sir Cannon Robsart, a Warwickshire knight. (fn. 5) The earl represented to
Urban VI that religious observance had not
flourished for some time at Monkskirby, the
expenditure was no longer on pious uses, the
French prior and monks had led dissolute lives,
and the buildings were in part decayed. (fn. 6) Accordingly a papal mandate was issued to the
bishop of Lichfield to transfer the priory and
property of Monkskirby to a prior and convent
of twelve Carthusian monks to be established in
that place. (fn. 7) Apparently no steps were taken in
the matter.

In 1396, possibly after consulting the Carthusian priors in England, Mowbray had chosen the
isle of Axholme as a suitable spot for a charterhouse, and he then petitioned Boniface IX for
leave to appropriate the priory of Monkskirby as
part of its endowment. (fn. 8) Robert Waldby, archbishop of York, was commissioned to investigate
the matter, and comply with Mowbray's request. (fn. 9)

On the site of the monastery at Low Melwood,
in Epworth, stood a chapel dedicated to the Virgin
which had long been called the Priory in the
Wood. (fn. 10) There the earl planned to erect a new
church in honour of the visitation of the Virgin,
St. John the Evangelist, and St. Edward king
and confessor, cloisters, monastic buildings and
cells for a prior and thirty monks. (fn. 11) With
Richard II's licence he endowed the house in
frankalmoigne with 100 acres in the manor of
Epworth, a rent of 20 marks, and such rights of
common of pasture, of turbary, and of fishery as
other free tenants held within the isle, the advowsons of Epworth and Belton, and the priory
of Monkskirby. (fn. 12) John More by was chosen as
prior of the new foundation. (fn. 13)

In June, 1398, in aid of the building of the
church and charterhouse, Boniface IX granted
the very liberal indulgence known as that of
St. Mary of the Angels at Assisi. (fn. 14) Penitents
who visited the house on the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin, and gave alms to the fabric,
received remission of all sins from their baptism
to that day. Only three months later, as the
result of his quarrel with Bolingbroke, the Duke
of Norfolk was banished for life from the kingdom, and he died at Venice in September, 1399. (fn. 15)

Soon after the accession of Henry IV the
prior and convent of Axholme suffered a severe
blow. On 29 December, 1399, the priory of
Monkskirby was restored to the monastery of
St. Nicholas at Angers, (fn. 16) and in 1401 Boniface IX annulled his former mandate by the
desire of Henry IV. (fn. 17) The house was in this
way deprived of the greater part of its endowment, until Monkskirby was confiscated with
the rest of the alien priories by Henry V, and
restored to Axholme in 1415. (fn. 18)

Under these circumstances it is probable that
the convent consisted only of a prior and twelve
monks, the fixed complement according to the
earlier statutes of the order, and a certain number
of lay brothers.

In 1449 the charterhouse was very flourishing,
the numbers had increased, but there were not
enough cells for the monks, and buildings begun
'with wondrous skill and great cost' were still
unfinished. (fn. 19) The prior and convent desired to
add to their endowment, and in 1450 succeeded
in appropriating to their own use the church of
Sileby in Leicestershire, which after the ordination of a vicarage was worth at least 14 marks
a year. (fn. 20) In 1461 they obtained from Edward IV
a confirmation of former charters, and as his
special gift two pipes of Gascon wine to be
taken each year at the port of Hull, and licence
to acquire property in mortmain to the annual
value of £50. (fn. 21)

Of the internal history of the house there is
nothing to record. The life in a Carthusian
monastery was one of prayer and contemplation. (fn. 22)
Each monk had a small house of two stories
with a little garden ranged around a cloister.
The ground floor was occupied by a workroom
in which he kept his tools; in the two rooms
above it he prayed, read, ate, and slept. His
food was passed into the lower room through an
opening so constructed that he could not see the
lay brother who brought it.

Three times in the day he went to the church
for the services of mattins, mass, and vespers, but
the other hours he said in his cell. On Saturdays he might take a walk within the grounds of
the monastery. On Sundays and feast-days most
of the services were held in the church, and the monks dined
together in the frater. The chapterhouse was used for service on certain feast-days,
and there the monks assembled for a necessary
discussion about the temporal affairs of the
monastery. The officers were the prior, vicar,
proctor, and sacrist. The prior had supreme
power, but was subject to the prior of the Grande
Chartreuse, and to the visitors of the province,
when they came to his house. The vicar was
spiritual head of the monastery in the prior's
absence. The proctor was responsible for the
general administration of "the house, and bore rule
over the lay brothers and servants. In the
statutes of the order the number of lay brothers
was limited to sixteen. The offices held by
them were those of kitchener and cellarer, baker,
cobbler, proctor of agriculture, and master of the
shepherds. A number of hired servants were
employed.

The nine houses in England formed a separate
province of the Carthusian order, and two visitors
chosen from among its priors were appointed at
intervals by the general chapter, which met
yearly at the Grande Chartreuse. The visitors
performed their office in each house once in two
years. Every other year one at least of them
was bound to attend the general chapter, and the
expense was borne by all the houses of the
province. In 1415 (fn. 23) it was conceded that the
visitor should only attend in leap year, in other
years letters from the province were to be sent
to the nearest priors across the sea.

The numbers at Axholme declined before the
dissolution, when there were not a dozen monks
in the house. There is no reason to think that
discipline was not strictly maintained, and under
such a prior as Augustine Webster the spiritual
and moral condition cannot have been other than
satisfactory. The revenues amply sufficed for
the needs of the house. When the difficult
questions of the succession arising out of the
divorce of Catherine of Aragon and the marriage
with Anne Boleyn were under discussion, a
determined effort was made to force the monks
of the London Charterhouse to assent to the
king's will. Under the rule of Prior Houghton,
the house was a model of religious observance.
Although the monks were so strictly enclosed
they had considerable influence, as many persons
resorted to them for spiritual advice. The story
of their troubles has often been told. (fn. 100) About
the middle of April, 1533, when they were expecting to have the oath of supremacy tendered
to them, Augustine Webster, prior of Axholme,
and Robert Lawrence, prior of Beauvale, arrived
at the Charterhouse. They determined to go to
Cromwell with Prior Houghton in the hope of
perhaps obtaining some modification of the
royal demands. Cromwell refused to listen to
them, and gave orders that they should be
arrested on the spot and taken to the Tower.
On 20 April the priors of Axholme and Beauvale were examined by Cromwell at his house
in the Rolls. (fn. 26) When questioned as to the
royal supremacy both declared that they could
not assent nor so believe. Accordingly they
were taken back to the Tower. On 28 April
they were tried together with Prior Houghton
and Dr. Reynolds, a Brigettine monk of Sion,
on the charge of treason. (fn. 26) Whether the jury
were influenced by Cromwell's threats or not,
they brought in a verdict of guilty on the 29th,
and the prisoners were condemned to death.
On the next day Cranmer wrote to Cromwell
on behalf of the prior of Axholme and Dr. Reynolds. ' I marvel at both' he said, ' as they
are learned men, and Webster promised he
would never support that opinion. If no other
offence, it will much more tend to the conversion of others to convert their consciences
by sincere doctrine, and so for them to publish
it than to suffer penalty of law. If they were
sent to me, I suppose I could do much on their
behalf.' (fn. 27) If Cromwell allowed Cranmer to
exert his influence it was of no avail. On
14 May, 1535, the three Carthusian priors and
Dr. Reynolds were executed at Tyburn.

The monks at Axholme did not emulate
the example of their prior, and none of them
were included among the Carthusians who suffered death for their opinions. It is probable
that the vicar (fn. 28) of the house, Michael Mekeness, became prior by Cromwell's appointment.
His rule was very unquiet. (fn. 29) A certain Henry
Stokwith, who, in view of the coming surrender,
desired the lease of the demesne lands, stirred
up strife between the prior and the monks. The
prior appears to have looked only to his own
interests and to have purposed to surrender his
house. He kept the convent seal and quarrelled
with the monks who refused their consent to a
lease of certain property to one of his kinsmen.
Cromwell heard, perhaps from the monks, (fn. 30) that
the prior was wasting the goods of the house,
and it was rumoured that he intended to depose
him. (fn. 31) In February, 1538, a letter signed by
eight of the monks was sent to Cromwell stating their belief that he had elected brother
Thomas Barningham as prior, and asking that
he might be put into possession as soon as possible. (fn. 32) On 21 March they wrote again. (fn. 33) The
prior, expecting to be deprived, had by Stokwith's
advice laid hands on all the money he could,
collected the rents, sold all the valuable horses,
and gone away, leaving them only £3. ' Dan
Thomas Barningham is a sad and very religious
man,' they said, 'would God we had him.'
Nothing was done. Cranmer interposed and
urged the willingness of the prior to surrender
the house. (fn. 34) A letter to the prior of Shene
Charterhouse, written in utter despair, and signed
by two monks and a lay brother, discloses the
pitiful condition of the house. (fn. 35) ' Our husbandry
is not looked upon, our land is not tilled, muck
is not led, our corn lyeth in the barn, some is
threshed and some is husbanded, and much is yet
to thresh, and taketh hurt with vermin; and as
soon as our father came home, he shewed our
servants that he had given up the house and
bade them shift for themselves, and so at Easter
they went many of them away. And shortly
hay-time shall come, and when it should be
sped, other things shall be to do.' They heard,
too, that the prior was going to send Stokwith
to London with the convent seal, and dreaded
the worst.

Their fears were shortly justified. When the
commissioners arrived to take the surrender, there
was no resistance. It was signed on 18 June,
1538, by the prior and eight monks. (fn. 36) The prior
was awarded a pension of £20, and seven of the
monks received small yearly sums. (fn. 37) The lay
brothers got nothing.

The clear yearly value of the property in
1535 amounted to £237 15s. 2¾d., of which
£157 12s 8½d. was drawn from the temporalities and spiritualities of Monkskirby. (fn. 38) The
remainder included lands and rents in the Isle of
Axholme, in Owston, Kinnard's Ferry, Gunthorpe, and Kelfield in Lincolnshire, and small
rents in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, and the
rectory of Sileby. The demesne lands were worth
£3 18s. 4d. a year. In the hands of the crown
bailiff four years later, the property brought in
£323 2s. 0½d. (fn. 39)

Priors of Axholme

A seal of this priory is attached to a charter of
1450. (fn. 46) It is in shape a pointed oval, and represents the Salutation of the Virgin, in a niche
with carved canopy, and tabernacle work at the
sides, on which are two shields of arms of the
founder: a lion rampant, Thomas Mowbray,
earl of Nottingham, afterwards duke of Norfolk.
In base, under an arch, a shield of arms: England
with a label of three points. (fn. 47) The legend is:—

S: CPE: DOMUS: UISITACPIS: GĒ: MARIE:
EGUS: ORW CART'

Footnotes

1. Pat. 19 Ric. II, pt, i, m. 36. Exch. K.R. Eccles.
Doc. (P.R.O.) 9/15, fol. 2, 7. This is only a part of the
chartulary, and ends abruptly before the conclusion
of the foundation charter, so the exact date is
missing.

12. Ibid. fol. 3 v. 4, 5, 7, 8. The endowment of
Monkskirby included the manors of New bold on Avon,
Coppeston, and Walton, the appropriated churches of
Monkskirby and New bold, and the advowsons of
Withy Brook, Warpenbury, and Sharnford.

22. It is only possible here to indicate a few of the
features of life in a Carthusian monastery. The
statutes of Guigo, fifth prior of the Grande Chartreuse,
were printed in 1510, Statuta Ordinis Cartusiensis a
Damno Guigone Priore Cartusiae edita; of. also Disdplina
Ordinis Cartusiensis auctore R. P. D. Innocentio le Masson,
(nova editio), 1894. For a summary of. Laurence
Hendrik, The London Charterhouse (ed. 1889), 26-35,
55-8, and E. Margaret Thompson, The Somerset
Carthusians (ed. 1895), 31-44.